Ruger AR-556

[old bear]

For sometime now, I've wanted a Ruger Mini 14, Plane Jane "Ranch Rifle" model. With what's going on I decided to bite the bullet and get one; even though I felt they were somewhat over priced. Only problem is none of my local dealers has one in stock, and don't know when they would be able to get one. They did have a Ruger AR-556 in stock at $400.00 less than the Mini 14. Now $400.00 is not all the money in the world, but it's enough to get a guy thinking. After 15 second of thinking, threw the Discover card on the counter and started the paper work.

For $300.00 less than the MSRP of the Mini 14, I got the AR-556, three thirty round mags, and 120 rounds of ammo. So I now have my first and last E.B.R. So I guess I'm a happy guy.

If I start to show up in 556 gear/attire or mention the word "run" when I should have said "use" someone please whoop this old fools rear end. If ya have to fly in to do it, I'll even pay for a economy class airline flight

Thanks all and have a good weekend.

 

[gen3guy]

I would have done the same. But I'm betting that you will soon realize that you still want a Mini-14 and will eventually have to scratch that itch.

I probably just opened the door for the Mini haters...

 

[Collo Rosso]

I think you made the better choice. You bought a basic AR with very good spec's from a manufacturer that will stand behind it. It should be a bit more accurate than the mini, mags are much cheaper and everywhere and accessories make it the Barbie doll of the shooting world. These are only some of the reasons there's millions of AR's floating around this country.

 

[vonn]

AR's are fun!

 

[fyimo]

I had a Mini 14 Ranch rifle for about 5 years and it was a blast to shoot. However, it wasn't close to what I could call an accurate rifle even with my reloads. I sold it and bought a DPMS Sportical AR-15 and had just as much fun to shooting it and the difference was my groups were less than half the size of the Mini 14's groups.

I liked the AR-15 platform so much I now have 3 of them adding a S&W Sport II and a PSA Stainless barreled Freedom added to the collection.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I had a total of 5 Mini-14's back in the 1980's. Three were blue and 2 were stainless. The best the blues would do at 100 yards from a rest with a scope and select ammo was 2", same rules and same scope the Stainless gun would do 3-3.5 inches.

I got fed up with the lack of accuracy and in 1994 bought a Bushmaster A-4 (20" H-bar type barrel and removable carry handle, no lug, no flash hider). This gun was just over $800.00 out the door on sale (about $300 less than a similar Colt). Using same Scope and my same range, the Bushmaster shot well with Winchester 46 grain 3600fps white box varmint ammo; the first group was 3/8" and second was 1/4", with 55 grain FMJ/BT reload; first group was 1/2". Yes there are ammo loads this gun won't shoot well (Federal Gold Medal Match being one of the worst, very surprising!) but it is very consistent with any ammo it does like. With the Win. Varmint ammo, I have shot a running coyote at 400 yards on dad's farm!

Back in the 80's a blue Mini-14 was a little less than half the price of a Colt AR-15 standard weight 20" barrel model and Stainless was $100 more. I had Ruger's factory folding stock on one of the stainless guns. It was a beautiful gun, but shot terrible!

Ivan

 

[old bear]

Thanks guys. I'm not in the least worried about MOA accuracy for two reasons, one I'm a terrible rifle shot, not sure I’m much better with a handgun. When I bought this my intention was to have a " high capacity" keep them at 50 yards away firearm.

Boy it's amazing the just gotta have it add on items out there.

Lynn, last time we did shotgun training, well guess what we get to work on this time..

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Old Bear; the availability of accessories for the AR platform is unreal!!! The temptation is to bolt every doodad on there to make it a "Swiss Army Knife", of guns. Remember K.I.S.S. - keep it simple stupid! Don't take your handy, light weight, and highly maneuverable carbine, and turn it into some sort of "Borg" device, that has so many protrusions you can't walk in a empty barn without getting snagged. If I may be bold enough, I would suggest you limit you accessories to 5 (five) these would be:

1) Sling (probably came with one- that is all you need)

2) Iron sights (it may have or not come with these. If you have a flat top, pop-up sights are a worthwhile luxury.)

3) LIGHT WEIGHT scope or red dot. For your applications, 1 to 4 should be plenty. Will need mounts, keep it light weight.

4) A very small flashlight. fixed or on a 3" rail (Mounts and rails cost money and add weight)

5) a bipod mounting stud. This can be as simple as a stud threaded into to fore end (costs about $1.19 and took 35 minutes) and as complex as a $70 system. The bipod is for target practice, scope zeroing, and varmint hunting and left off when not being used.

I recently picked up a collapsing stocked AR-10 w/18.5" barrel. The temptation to bolt on everything on the market is very strong, because at some level they almost all make sense. Just stick with YOUR plan.

Ivan

 

[Rock185]

Good choice I think old bear. I had a mini-14 and Mini-30. Accuracy was unremarkable. My 16" Colt with 1 in 9 twist heavy barrel and 4X scope demonstrated that it would put 5 rounds into one of those little 1" orange pasters at 100 yards. I suspect a good rifleman could do similar with your Ruger. Even if one doesn't need that level of accuracy, its nice to know the rifle is capable of it

 

[Collo Rosso]

Old Bear; the availability of accessories for the AR platform is unreal!!! The temptation is to bolt every doodad on there to make it a "Swiss Army Knife", of guns. Remember K.I.S.S. - keep it simple stupid!

This is an understatement! I've seen AR's that must have weighed 15 pounds!
Got bored with the "black rifle" of mine and put a Hogue stock and grip in FDE on and one of the new Magpul Moe SL handgaurds in the same a couple weeks ago. Pic from Thursday:

 

[Mule Packer]

Great choice, Fred. Just don't get carried away. Pretty soon you'll be buying camo clothing, tactical gear, and wearing your old dog tags around the neighborhood if you're not careful.

 

[scooter123]

You do know that AR's will clone themselves if you leave them in a dark place for too long don't you? I was a bolt action and lever action guy for a lot of years until a coworker talked me into building a 20 inch precision AR in 223 Wylde. Now I have the 20, a 16 inch carbine in 223 Wylde and a 16 inch carbine in 300 BLK.

BTW, love the 300 Blackout, the most accurate shooting powder I've found for this caliber is H110 so no fiddling with tweezers getting every charge of Varget for 223 "just right", I just load up the powder measure and throw charge after charge with almost no detectable variation. Another plus for the 300 BLK is that after shooting my 308 bolt rifle the recoil is so soft it's almost a giggle to shoot. Accuracy isn't bad at all either, when I throw a scope on it with the Burris PEPR QD mount I can get one pet load down to 3/4 inch at 100 yards if I take my time. BTW, I can highly recommend the Burris PEPR QD mount, it repeats within 1/2 inch at 100 yards and that is plenty good enough for me. Built the Blackout to be a light weight carbine so normally I just shoot it at 50 yards with irons but it's handy to have the ability to mount a scope to check if a new handload is working as desired.